Howdy.
Above we see a fine painting, depicting a line in Plutarch's Life of Marius.
Like this: a traveler happened to see Marius in some African ruins -- Marius, famous Roman politician, currently out of favour. And Marius just said to the traveler, "Tell them that you've seen Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage!"
This feels like me now... and, nota bene, it isn't about living in decay and hopelessness... for as I remember it, Marius made a comeback into politics after this episode.
Thus, whatever historical details may be mentioned here, this picture represents a hard-to-define feeling... the painting kind of portrays this quote by Victorian author Matthew Arnold:
“Wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born; with nowhere yet to rest my head, on earth I wait forlorn”...
This is the pervading feeling these days.
This is the dominant mood, the basic key, the chord shaping the soundtrack – the soundtrack for a time of changes, of transformation.
And I, like Marius in Carthage, like the wanderer between worlds, am stuck in the middle of it, in the doldrums of it -- just an ordinary man trying to cope with the times, trying to make some sense of it – and, with time, trying to put his own stamp on it.
Related
Actionism -- How to Become a Responsible Man (2017)
The Dreamer's Description -- poem
Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret. Marius Meditating on the Ruins of Carthage
